1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as an image forming apparatus (digital multifunction machine, digital copier, fax machine, printer or the like), an image reading device (scanner or the like), or a personal computer (hereinafter, PC for short), to a magnification ratio distribution determination method in the image processing apparatus, to a program executed in a computer (CPU) controlling the image processing apparatus, and to a computer-readable recording medium in which the program is recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years there have been proposed image processing apparatuses, for instance as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-269379, in which magnification ratio (resolution) can be set, through operation of an operative unit by a user, during transmission of image data stored in a memory device to an external device such as a PC or the like.
There have also been proposed image processing apparatuses, for instance as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-67018, in which, with a view to preventing miscopy and/or enhancing user-friendliness, a size to be printed is preset in accordance with the size of a document, so that a document image is printed scaled to a printing size that is set based on the size of the document actually read, and in which, through a simple operation of document insertion by the user, the read image data is aggregated and printed with a magnification ratio according to the printing size after magnification and according to the size of the read-document.
Although the apparatus in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-269379 comprises magnification processing means that can use magnification processing of image data stored in a memory device, magnification ratio is not optimally determined therein taking into account output (printing or transmission) throughput (processing speed) and reusability, for each service provided to a user, during storage of image data in the memory device.
Also, although the apparatus in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-67018 succeeds in enhancing user-friendliness by resorting to some magnification processing schemes, magnification ratio is not optimally determined therein taking into account output throughput and reusability, for each service provided to a user, during storage of image data in the memory device.